Public relations for marketing professionals

PUBLIC RELATIONS FOR MARKETING

PROFESSIONALS

STUDIES IN PUBLIC RELATIONS

Series Editor: Norman A. Hart, MSc FIPR FCIM FCAM

The Studies in Public Relations series of books is designed to present public

relations in its new and developing role as a strategic function contributing to

the achieving and enhancement of business objectives. It represents a 'second

generation' of textbooks which will move from the hitherto concentration on

press relations into a wider corporate role.

The series is edited by Norman Hart, a well-known international writer and

speaker on all aspects of public relations and marketing communications.

Author of many books on various communications subjects, he is a Fellow of

the Institute of Public Relations, and was the first Professor of Public Relations

in the United Kingdom. Norman is a past Chairman of the International Public

Relations Foundation.

Public relations for marketing

professionals

Roger Haywood

Foreword by Steve Cuthbert

palgfave

*

C> Roger Haywood 1998

Foreword 0 Steve Cuthbert 1998

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ISBN 978-0-333-68477-1 ISBN 978-1-349-14365-8 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-14365-8

Contents

Foreword by Steve Cuthbert Vll

Acknowledgements viii

1 Marketing: what business is all about 1

The marketing perspective

2 Public relations: the management of reputation 22

Some public relations fundamentals

3 Managing public relations 40

The policies, the people, the planning

4 Communications and issues audits 63

The objective base for planning

5 Public relations budget and resources 83

Appointing and handling professionals

6 Public relations direction 97

Planning and writing the brief

7 Setting performance criteria 119

Developing and agreeing measurable targets

8 Marketing: the diverse business discipline 142

Public relations in marketing planning

9 Marketing: the diverse business discipline 165

Public relations in support of marketing implementation

10 Marketing: international communications 209

Appendix: Sources of information 213

Selected bibliography 218

Index 220

v

Foreword

Good marketing must mean good communications. Public relations is a vital

element in running a successful business yet, too often, what should be a central

business discipline is run as if it were all a matter of personal opinion or

idiosyncratic judgement. But good public relations should be planned, should

be managed and should be appraised. Everyone buying or using public relations

services should look at the principles that underpin the craft - and try to

develop procedures that produce the maximum benefit and the highest levels of

cost effectiveness from the resources and budget that they allocate to this

important function. Indeed, as the author of Public relations for marketing

professionals argues persuasively, there may be opportunities to improve

marketing effectiveness through the wiser allocation of such resources - if the

marketers know where and how to allocate these.

Roger Haywood is a rare character in that he has chaired with considerable

success both the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Institute of Public

Relations. Though he has written and broadcast extensively on business

communications, he is more than a theorist. He is a pragmatic experienced

professional who cuts through jargon to offer practical and useable advice.

How many marketing people really know how to recruit winning public

relations personnel: or how to get the best people in the consultancy demanding

to work on their account: or the six essentials to remember when setting up a

media interview: or the unfailing no-cost way to test the value of a news story:

or the critical factor to set in place first when a crisis hits the organisation? As

with marketing, learning from mistakes can be a bruising and expensive way to

develop essential skills.

Most business people need a better understanding of marketing. And many

marketing professionals need a better understanding not just of what public

relations is but how to manage it. Used effectively, public relations can help

build the company reputation as well as protect it when the going gets tough.

vii

STEVE ClTfHBERT

Director General

The Chartered Institute of Marketing

Maidenhead

Acknowleodgements

My appreciation goes to my many partners within the Worldcom Group for

their suggestions, examples and ideas used throughout this book. It has been a

privilege to be part of the Worldcom international partnership; I was fortunate

enough to be able to play a part in the formation and development of this

remarkable organisation - and, in recent years, to have found associates who

have become colleagues and then friends as we have built the organisation from

nothing in 1988 into the world's largest partnership of independent

consultancies, with 120 offices across the business capitals of the world.

I would also like to thank the many public relations and marketing

professionals who have given their time in supplying many of the case studies in

this book and who, in many cases, have helped check and constructively amend

my copy. I cannot mention each here - but every one is acknowledged in the

index. Without their expertise and generosity, this book would not have been

possible. Particular appreciation must go to the many members of the Institute

of Public Relations, the Chartered Institute of Marketing and The Marketing

Society who gave me such support and assistance in the creation of this guide.

I would also like to thank my business partner John Dresser for his unfailing

good humour through the trials of preparing this book at a time that we were

also developing and building our own business.

But above all, my deepest appreciation must go to my personal partner (as the

PC terminology suggests is appropriate these days), my wife Sandra, for

tolerating an intolerable other half.

Towards the meritocracy

Whilst making acknowledgements, let me say that one of the joys of the media,

public relations and marketing industries is the impressive capabilities of so

many of the people at all levels in the business. Our sectors must be amongst the

most egalitarian, where achievement relates most closely to performance. We

are not yet a true meritocracy for the ethnic minorities have not yet fully

achieved senior representation - but all the opportunities are open. Women are

not a minority, but in some businesses it is taking a long time for them to get the

recognition they deserve. Probably more of the best professionals at the top of

our business are women than in any other industry. So when I use 'he' in this

book, it is because it becomes tedious to say 'he or she' every time. Equally, I

amcresistant to the fudge of putting everything into the plural to disguise the

gender. If this approach irritates anyone, I am sorry. I doubt that any of the

many talented women I have worked with and for will take offence.

ROGER HAYWOOD

viii

CHAPTER 1

Marketing: what business is

all about

THE MARKETING PERSPECTIVE

Should the bold spirits all dazzle their eyes by the star high above, they may

stumble into the crevasse, but fix their gaze on a heavenly body in proximy to the

horizon, be it still as distant, and they will navigate safely the closer hazards.

Stig Enstonze (1834-96), Danish explorer, in Discoveries (1889)

• Background to public relations for

marketing professionals

• Start at the beginning

If public relations is all about creating favourable opinion - and that will do as

a starting definition - then it obviously should have a very close relationship

with marketing, which must be much about managing customer relations

favourably and profitably.

Public relations for marketing professionals has been written primarily for

those with a good understanding of marketing. It is particularly relevant to

executives with experience and senior responsibility, though it has much that

should be of value to those entering marketing. There are also suggestions that

should be helpful to professionals in public relations wishing to extend the

services they are offering to their marketing colleagues or bosses.

• Balance thought and action

Public relations often has a valuable role to play in areas outside those initially

considered by many marketing executives - it can add much in new product

development, research, distributor support and so on.

It can also work both as a communications discipline, often in diverse and

surprisingly flexible ways, as well as being capable of being applied to business

as a management philosophy, much like marketing itself. Indeed, in much the

same way that marketing evangelists have argued for their profession, public

1

2 Public relations for marketing professionals

relations should also be considered at the strategic level and not just thought of

as an optional, add-on communications technique.

• Move towards integrated communications

All the marketing disciplines have a contribution to make and should be

balanced in the marketing mix. This does not mean all are equal. Direct mail

might be perfect for some aspects of communications but not all. Within some

companies advertising can be dominant, perhaps because of the budget spent.

This may be understandable but it must not allow all strategic problems to be

approached from an advertising perspective. Public relations problems need to

be solved through public relations techniques.

To try to get a better balance and greater synergy, some organisations and

agencies have moved to an integrated communications approach. This can

work well if all the communications functions are considered and each allowed

its proper role. It is less satisfactory if it means that the significance of the input

is judged by the level of budget spend.

Public relations is concerned about policies that will win public goodwill,

even before any communications activity is undertaken. For this reason, it can

be unwise to think of public relations only as communications or even an

element in some integrated communications mix.

Of course, public relations can be highly effective - or otherwise. This book

attempts to help those who need to specify, introduce, brief, commission,

manage or monitor this (oft-times undisciplined) discipline to ensure both the

maximum effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. There is always a better way, a

more creative approach, an extra dimension, some added value, a sharper focus

- and the author tries to illustrate how to add this public relations competitive

edge through both procedures (such as checklists, analytical processes and

guidance notes) and through the pragmatic step of examples and case studies,

used throughout the text.

• Getting it right

Few marketing professionals will have direct personal experience in public

relations, though most will have been responsible for the management of this

activity. The performance quality delivered, either by in-house teams or

consultancy, may vary considerably. Therefore this text looks at some of the

fundamentals from which the best planned and run programmes must be built.

There will be variations in the public relations approach according to whether

the marketing is targeting consumers, with products or services, or business

buyers - indeed, in any other marketing relationship in the commercial or even

non-profit sectors. However, the underlying principles will always remain the

same.

If some of these factors are too basic for some readers, the author can only

apologise. However, major organisations which have suffered public relations

Marketing: what business is all about 3

disasters in recent years are so many that it has become embarrassing to admit

to being a public relations adviser. Such calamities (some noted in this text)

have befallen companies as diverse as British Airways, British Gas, General

Motors, McDonald's, Marks Be Spencer, McDonnell Douglas, Nestle, Ratners,

Sainsbury's, Shell and Unilever - many of these are companies that have also

won a wards for their marketing and management excellence.

If some of the most respected companies, often with highly regarded market￾ing capabilities, can make significant but avoidable public relations mistakes,

then some of these basics may not be so fully understood or practised as might

be advisable. In these cases, either the organisations were let down by their

public relations advice, or it was not offered at a high enough level, or it was

not listened to, or was overridden.

Certainly, despite significant investment in both marketing and public

relations, something serious keeps going wrong with many corporations. It

must ultimately come down to the level of understanding and quality of

management.

Public relations can be a powerful force and must be managed firmly and

actively. Marketing people must be certain that this is an area under control.

Even if public relations is not an active force deployed by the organisation,

there may be countless issues that can come to the top of the corporate or

marketing agenda that will demand attention. Some might arise without

warning and over which management will have no control; failure to manage

the consequences will demonstrate that the necessary resources and skills are

not in place. This can be embarrassing; it can be disastrous. No company has

the option to say it has no public relations. It can only choose to be organised or

not. As an illustration, any product can be beset by quality or safety issues; the

manufacturer, distributor or retailer of these will need to be able to promptly

and effectively handle the public relations aspects that will follow.

At the very least, reading this book and putting the principles into practice

could be invaluable insurance against calamity, whilst those with a more

visionary perspective might find the public relations approach can do more

than act as a defence; it can add massively to business success.

• Public relations is a core discipline in

marketing

Marketing professionals know that everything in the business is dependent on

effective marketing - for exceeding the expectations of the customers is what

every business should all be about. Of course, business success depends on

many skilled professionals across the organisation but if this customer satisfac￾tion factor is not fundamental then all the other efforts will be without point -

unless you are planning to go out of business or are in a state monopoly or

similar.

4 Public relations for marketing professionals

All company activities should be focused on short- or long-term customer

benefit, including communications both within and without the organisation.

Most of these points in this introductory section will be accepted by

marketers - but not all will be fully appreciated by some public relations

practitioners, particularly those who may come from journalism or through an

arts education rather than from the hard-headed world of business.

Even the most evangelical marketer would agree that business would not

survive long without effective financial, personnel, legal (and many other)

specialist managers. Marketing is the bridge, the interface, the link between the

company and the customers ... and all those who serve the customers which,

again, is everyone.

However - and there would have to be a but after such a dogmatic statement

- the omnipotence of marketing can give the practitioners of this craft a

distorted perspective of public relations. Some think that public relations is

media coverage or (if they see themselves as visionaries) media relations.

Others think that public relations is part of marketing - which it is not.

If you are a marketing professional and have bought this book, do not

despair or demand a refund. There are many flattering and positive comments

later about the magical skills of successful marketing craftspeople.

Should you just be browsing through this part of the book, wondering

whether to buy it, take courage and blow such a modest sum to find out why

public relations is essential in marketing, yet is not part of marketing. Also,

through the following pages, learn how to get the maximum contribution to

your marketing effectiveness (in some areas you may never even have con￾sidered), through the canny use of public relations.

• Marketing moves centre stage

In recent years, marketing has moved from being a sales improvement discipline

- getting all the sales influences working together - to becoming a philosophy of

business. If shareholders or employees are identified as the primary focus of the

business, can it truly be said to be marketing orientated?

Richard Branson of Virgin argues that his staff come first - and this means

that happy employees serve the customers best. That may be true in his case,

but it cannot be taken as an infallible rule of human behaviour.

Some companies give the impression that their employees would be happiest

if there were no customers. In Dixons, I once interrupted a conversation

between two sales assistants to ask them if I could help pay their wages. The

irony was lost, even when I patiently explained that my custom was what paid

them. When they failed to take the proffered opportunity to put this customer

first, I took my business to Comet. I may not be important but I have the final

say, as does every customer, when I am spending my money.

Marketing: what business is all about 5

A marketing organisation has to be built around the concept of putting the

customers first. This means anticipating and exceeding their expectations.

Profits will come from this customer satisfaction. Employee benefits will flow

from both the satisfaction of the work and from the rewards that can be

distributed through the profits generated. The owners or shareholders can also

expect and earn a better return, for satisfied customers spend more, satisfied

staff become more effective (and usually are less expensive than a team with a

constant turnover), whilst the customer focus offers a better guarantee of short￾and long-term profit .

• Public relations -like marketing - may be a

state of mind

In the introduction to the excellent Companion Encyclopedia of Marketing (see

bibliography), the editor, Professor Michael Baker of the University of Strath￾clyde, considers that marketing, like medicine and engineering is a 'synthetic'

discipline. He points out that it has sound foundations in the long-established

and recognised social sciences such as economics, psychology and sociology -

but it differs from them in its holistic approach to understanding the nature and

satisfaction of human needs. Also, like medicine and engineering, marketing

embraces, in addition to a body of knowledge, a professional practice depen￾dent upon that knowledge.

Baker also examines the way that views about marketing polarise into those

who perceive it as a philosophy of business and those who regard it as a

management function related to a particular activity, comparable to produc￾tion, finance or human resource management. Most people will see the true

essence of marketing as being mutually-satisfying exchange relationships.

It could be argued that marketing has always been an intrinsic element of the

commercial exchange process - but that its importance has waxed and waned

with shifts in the balance between supply and demand. Brian Jones of the

University of Prince Edward Island School of Business, Canada, discusses this in

the Companion Encyclopedia in his chapter on historical research in marketing.

He believes there would appear to be at least three main phases in the evolution

of the modern marketing concept: the emergence of the mass market around

1850, the articulation of the modern marketing concept, which would be

around 1960, and the transition from an emphasis upon the transaction to

the relationship, which would be as late as 1990.

Though marketing might be considered a modern concept, its customer￾orientation roots go back to the days when businesses began to grow too big for

the product-maker to deal personally with each customer. New technologies

made mass production possible and so the industrial revolution began. People

6 Public relations for marketing professionals

moved from country areas into towns to work in the new factories - and began

to earn the sort of incomes that allowed them to become consumers themselves.

Mass production led to the creation of the mass market and, in those days in

the mid-1800s, the manufacturers were king. They had control over the

employees. They had mass markets, sometimes at their factory gates, sometimes

across the world through cheap transport; also, they often had the benefit of

limited competition from less advanced nations. Raw materials were available

at minimal prices from global markets; most of the countries of origin for such

raw materials had not yet reached the stage of being able to manage their own

economies effectively .

• Marketing brings business closer to the

consumer

But today the picture is different. Both manufacturers and retailers ensure that,

through research and other techniques, they keep close to consumers.

For example, the movement towards large-scale retailing both in food and

variety store sectors (the multiple market) has increased their power, their

influence - and both their understanding of and responsiveness to the moods of

the public. In each market, retailers leapfrog each other with innovations and

better customer services.

For example, in the UK, when Tesco and Safeway introduced a loyalty card,

Sainsbury's declined to participate and, for that year, saw its profits decline for

the first time in some twenty years of trading. The two factors may not have

been connected ... but Sainsbury's rapidly introduced its own version of a

loyalty scheme.

This closeness of the retailer to the consumer puts considerable emphasis on

the need for effective public relations to help align the retailer's ambitions with

the aspirations of its customers. Significantly, in most markets around the

world, leading retailers have highly professional public relations departments;

these are responsible for maintaining relations with customers, prospective

customers, suppliers and other key audiences - continuously and regardless of

whether the organisation happens to be advertising at that particular time.

Yet it is important to appreciate that advertising by the retailers is of great

influence. In the UK, it grew from £85 million in 1985 to £523 million in 1992,

according to an Economist Intelligence Unit report. The leading UK retail

advertiser in the mid-1990s was Tesco with an estimated £26 million spend,

compared with a little over £6 million just four years earlier.

In analysing the expenditure figures, some estimates have worked on different

criteria. Is public relations counted as part of the advertising expenditure? Is

sponsorship, for example, part of advertising, public relations or a separate

Marketing: what business is all about 7

communications discipline? Or maybe it is sales support or corporate relations

and not communications at all?

Sponsorship may be publicity or entertainment or both. Certainly the right

sponsorship can deliver a high level of attention or awareness; the Littlewoods'

Cup sponsorship generated in excess of five hours of prime television coverage

time in its first year. Though this airtime cannot be directly compared with

conventional advertising, it clearly presented the Littlewoods name on many

occasions to many potential and current customers .

• 'Marketing public relations' must be

controlled by marketing

Marketing is seen by some only as a consumer-related actIvIty; but this

approach to business is just as relevant to a charity, a pressure group, a

business service provider, trade union, government department or, indeed, a

company selling satellites, bridges or ships.

As noted earlier, business is about nothing if it is not about marketing.

Indeed, there can be few organisations that do not have some form of marketing

focus at the centre of its activities - even if it does not use this term to describe

the activities. For all organisations exist to serve the interests of some group of

people, even the KGB or London cabbies; they cannot meet these needs unless

they have such a market orientation.

If the organisation needs to meet customer requirements then it needs

marketing, whatever it may call the mix of skills it deploys. Similarly, it cannot

meet these needs unless it has processes of two-way communications in place -

in other words, public relations. And, rightly, the public relations that is

responsible for supporting marketing should be managed and directed by

marketing, even where it may be undertaken by communications professionals

outside the direct responsibility of marketing. It would be intolerable for

marketing management to have to work with colleagues influencing marketing

audiences - customers, wholesalers, retailers, for example - but operating

independently and uncontrollably.

At the same time, marketing management has to understand and accept that,

in most organisations, there are audiences where public relations has respon￾sibilities which are not traditionally considered part of marketing - share￾holders, government, factory neighbours, employees, may be examples. Clearly,

communication with marketing and non-marketing audiences needs to be

consistent and co-ordinated. Later, we look at the advantages and otherwise

of marketing public relations being run within the marketing function or

outside.